Lake Norman’s McKenzie Graham is The Observer’s girls’ coach of the year

What is an average winter day like for McKenzie Graham, the Charlotte Observer’s Girls’ coach of the year for 2024-25?

She laughed at the question, adding, “It’s probably pretty unusual for a coach.”

The woman who coached Lake Norman High School to the N.C. High School Athletic Association’s 4A girls’ basketball state championship in March starts her day pretty early.

“The alarm goes off at 4 a.m. each day,” she said. “That’s because I’ve got to be in the office to get things started.”

Most coaches work with 100 to 150 students each day in their school classrooms, Graham concerns herself with 35 to 40 employees and about 5,000 customers.

As chief operating officer and an owner of Mooresville Oil and Propane, Kristen Graham — McKenzie, to most who know her — has plenty of decisions to make before she can concern herself with the X’s and O’s of coaching.

“I knew nothing about it,” said Graham, referring to the time about a decade ago when she became an officer of a family-owned business that dates back 101 years. “There was a massive learning curve.”

A lifetime learner

“But I consider myself a lifetime learner,” she said. “And I think it’s helped me as a coach.”

Around 3 p.m. each weekday during basketball season, Graham leaves the business world for a few hours and coaches the girls’ varsity basketball team at Lake Norman.

She came aboard in 2013 as a volunteer assistant coach, after graduating from the University of South Carolina.

“I tried to learn everything I could,” she said.

And four years later, when the head coaching position came open, Graham got the job.

As with the gas and oil business, there was a learning curve.

“It was tough,” she said. “The improvement was gradual. We won eight games that first season, then 11, and then 16.”

Along the way, Graham developed a system. She prepares six- to eight-page scouting reports for every game. She has developed a defense that most opponents have not been able to solve.

And by 2023, Graham had stamped herself — and the Lake Norman program — as powers to be reckoned with. The Wildcats took a 31-0 record into the 4A state title game in 2023 before losing to Panther Creek.

In 2024, Lake Norman went 26-3 and lost in the 4A semifinals to Charlotte Catholic.

“That loss (Catholic) provided the motivation for our team this season,” Graham said. “Our players carried a lot of resentment about the loss. It fueled us this season.”

The Wildcats had several players returning from the 2023-24 team — notably, Alexis and Samantha Shehan and Kelsey Rhyne — and picked up a couple of outstanding transfers in Rayana Minard and Kaiya Bond.

“The transfers added a whole new dimension to our team,” she said.

Graham said the eventual run to a state championship wasn’t a surprise.

“We knew what we had,” she said. “Our biggest demon to overcome was ourselves.”

She said a holiday tournament loss to Hebron Christian, a Georgia team ranked third nationally at the time, clinched things.

“We ran out of gas in the third quarter,” she said. “But we learned that we could hang with a nationally ranked team.”

The Wildcats eventually finished 30-1, capped by a 53-51 championship game victory over Wakefield.

‘Basketball is my escape’

Graham said he enjoys her day job but added that she needs basketball in her life.

“Basketball is my escape,” she said.

There’s golf in the offseason, and since her family lives along Lake Norman, there’s always time for the boat in the summer.

But basketball, she said, drives her.

Graham said her late mother, Deborah, used to tell people that McKenzie’s first word was “ball.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Graham said of her busy life. “Coaching is what I enjoy, a lot.”

This story was originally published June 23, 2025 at 6:30 AM.